OSAKA - Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), the largest economic organization in western Japan, on Tuesday set up a dedicated team for business with China to seek more ways of cooperation and investment in specialized industry fields including joint project for underground street development.

The new committee titled "China Business Committee" was established to enhance economic cooperation between Osaka and China while marking the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China.

According to OCCI, more than 50 business leaders and specialists from major companies based in Osaka and its neighboring cities, representing such as trading house, financial institution, the manufacturing and constructing industries, gathered here to attend the first meeting.

During the meeting, the participants explored ways to back up the prioritized projects including cooperation for underground street development among the major Chinese cities.

They also agreed to discuss further promotion of tourism collaborating with other chambers in Kyoto and Kobe to recover at least the same number of visitors from China, about 1.5 million guests, as recorded in 2010, the year before the earthquake occurred in the northeast part of the country.

Shigetaka Sato, Chairman of OCCI, said in a recent interview with Xinhua that the new committee will function as the central body to take initiative in accelerating technical support and cooperation for underground street development in Beijing and other Chinese cities. He said that the committee will send its own surveying team to the Chinese capital in March before setting up working teams.

Sato, meanwhile, stressed that since Osaka is a center of the Japan's pharmaceutical industry, the new committee is expected also to promote wider cooperation with Chinese companies or organizations in the fields of drug development and medical appliances, and investment in the region's newly created environment industry cluster.

He also noted that one of the areas soon initiated by the committee should be service industry since the people in Osaka and the neighboring areas, compared with Tokyo, are good at showing " hospitality" which is basis for the commercial attitude towards customers in stores to sell goods or give services.